The Comfort Revolution

It's no longer necessary to suffer for style—from sleek sneakers to cars that soothe, our on-the-go lifestyles are transforming all quarters of design. A report from the front lines of the feel-good movement

ENLARGE

Peter Oumanski for The Wall Street Journal

By

Kate Bolick

Updated Oct. 12, 2012 5:56 p.m. ET

WHEN SOTHEBY'S PUT Brooke Astor's belongings on the auction block last month, nosy voyeurs were reminded that being rich hasn't always meant enjoying the cushy life. As I scrolled through the 901 lots pictured online—a shocking number of marble-topped Louis XVI console tables; herds of Chinese porcelain animal figurines with which to populate them—the word that kept coming to mind was "hard." Save for the ecstatic curlicues on a few Rococo mirrors and the occasional seat cushion, there wasn't a yielding surface or curved edge in sight.

We've long accepted that high style presumes a certain level of suffering, as if feeling good were the antithesis of fashion, something to be indulged in private, when nobody was looking (e.g., sweatpants). That's changing. Over the last 10 or so years, comfort has become a leading motivator in fashion, décor, even industrial design, abolishing the old line between private and public. Feeling good remains as personal and idiosyncratic as ever—what works for you won't necessarily work for me—but because there are so many options to choose from, and so much information available to help you choose it, rather than being a relaxation of standards, comfort is an increasingly particular, even scientific art. Today, comfort is king, as well as our dominant form of self-expression.

Take the sneaker, historically the bane of the professional woman's existence, currently the comfort revolution's hammer and sickle. If you've walked down the street lately, you may have noticed that the overstuffed marshmallows of yore have been replaced with svelte styles in every conceivable shade of bright and neon. The 1980s career woman in her skirt suit and Reeboks slipped on her grown-up shoes when she got to the office, but the millennial laborer, liberated from her desk by the smartphone, is often anywhere but the office. When a typical workday includes a round-trip flight to Chicago followed by dinner with clients, travel-friendly footwear is not only necessary, it lets people know you're successful enough to not have to wear shoes that give you blisters. The likes of Isabel Marant and Chloé are even touting a high-topped sneaker with a hidden 3-inch wedge heel that confers an air of integrity lacking in previous offerings (picture the offspring of a Converse and a pump). Nike'sNKE0.18% new collaboration with Liberty of London has anglicized the style with a delicate floral print.

In June, fashion site Refinery29 ran a tutorial on how to incorporate the new sneaker into one's wardrobe—which itself presents limitless opportunities for dignified slouch. Tastemakers recommend we don pajamas as evening wear, leggings haven't budged since their millennial comeback and Barneys recently announced in an advertorial, "No longer relegated to loungewear, the once-humble sweatshirt has been making appearances on street-style stars and runways alike."

Men are benefiting as well. If "Casual Fridays" were introduced in the 1950s to raise white-collar morale, mid-'90s tech-geek chic—jeans, T-shirt, hoodie, sneakers—upped the ante by enabling CEOs to transition seamlessly from boardroom to videogame console. The years since have seen something of a stabilizing effect, thanks in part to an uptick in high-quality, touchable cashmeres, fine wools and chunky knits that cloak the wearer in a sensual cocoon and broadcast a quality of subtle refinement. Whether the men's skirts peddled by Marc Jacobs and Rick Owens will catch on remains to be seen.

‘There's something undeniably progressive about this demand for comfort, along the lines of the flappers tossing their corsets or the women's libbers burning their bras.’

There's something undeniably progressive about this demand for comfort, along the lines of the flappers tossing their corsets or the women's libbers burning their bras. Many of today's leading designers came of age when third-wave feminists were trying to puzzle out how to look attractive without compromising their politics, and today's chic insouciance is a solution to that conundrum. In 2002, when she was in her late 20s, fashion designer Rachel Comey transformed the footwear landscape with the now-ubiquitous fashion clog; this season, she offers 12 different options. "I like to think there's something sexy about clogs," she said. "They conjure up images of the tight-jeans-wearing, Firebird-driving baby sitters that lived next door to me in the 1970s. They were all liberated and opinionated and a touch naughty." It doesn't even matter if the women buying these fashions view their purchases as political—they are undeniably part of a societal shift that's seeing women make and spend more money than ever before, and they're influencing design with their dollars.

The comfort craze is even impacting the universe of cars. "The last 10 years have seen a transformation in automotive design," said Gerry McGovern, head of design and chief creative officer for Land Rover. Now that women are driving more than ever, their preferences have more influence, and new studies show that women experience comfort much differently than men. He cited the "beltline," that horizontal zone on the side of a car separating the windows from the doors. A low beltline is generally considered elegant, but Land Rover's researchers found that women like the beltline to be higher than usual, because it makes them feel secure. This modification gave a more dramatic look to the car's exterior. As if to bring this bridging of worlds to life, in May Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani collaborated with BMWBMW1.60% to custom-design a MINI Roadster for the Milan fashion shows. Her creation—a brilliant violet with gold racing stripes—reflects the latest research into gender and color preferences. According to Sandy McGill, chief designer at DesignworksUSA, a creative consultancy owned by BMW, women love purple and men hate it. "It makes women feel secure, whereas it seems to actually scare men," she said.

Because color affects us not only visually but also emotionally, it's a key ingredient in auto design, as drivers need to feel secure in both body and mind. According to Ms. McGill, the biggest trend in auto interiors is shades of brown, considered a "comfort color." "Brown is rich, warm, approachable, earthy. It gives you a feeling of history and refinement with age," she said. As Mr. McGovern put it, "The car has become the extension of the living room. We spend so much time in our cars—the recognition is that interiors have to be calming and inviting spaces that stimulate the desire to be in them."

As for living rooms themselves, they haven't been this cozy since the 1970s, when shag rugs and throw cushions lured us off our settees and down onto the floor—which is exactly why designers are incorporating them (and their cousins, the flokati and wall-to-wall carpeting) into contemporary décors. "Home can't be happy unless it's comfy," said home furnishings designer and "snuggle chic" purveyor Jonathan Adler. "You should use every square inch of your house." His designs are the antithesis of those found at Brooke Astor's high-end tag sale: There's nary a straight line or sharp edge in his enthusiastic mashup of midcentury Palm Beach and global pop. Quick perusals of West Elm and Crate & Barrel might lead one to wonder if all the hours we're logging in bed with our laptops and iPads have inspired an upholstered headboard revival; sure enough, Mr. Adler sells nothing but.

Interior decorator Bunny Williams has been refining her approach to comfort since the mid-'60s, when she joined the iconic decorating firm Parish-Hadley, and has watched the demise of the formal living room and rise of the multifunctional "great room" firsthand. "We want rooms that feel good, that reflect the way we live," she said. For her, comfort is synonymous with usability: a sofa that's good for napping, chairs that can be pulled over when friends drop in, small tables that ensure when a person sits down with a cup of coffee she has somewhere to put it.

Kit Kemp, owner and design director of the supremely comfortable Firmdale Hotels, and author of the new Rizzoli coffee-table book "A Living Space," has noticed that her increasingly design-knowledgeable clientele no longer considers the trend for bespoke and tailor-made to be a luxury, but a requirement. She considers every aspect of her hotel rooms, down to the lining and trim on the curtains. "Details are comforting for the eye because they make you feel cosseted," she said. A high bed "has a certain stature, and make you want to throw yourself onto it"; an upholstered headboard means "you can lean back and have breakfast"; there should always be a bedside light that's strong enough to read by but romantic enough that you look good without your makeup. And then there's technology. "If I could get away with not having any electrical point I would, but I fear that is far in the future. For now, technology is the first thing I think of when designing a room. There should always be broadband and several telephone lines, and because we all use the alarms on our phones to wake up, I put a plug beside the bed."

The masses might not be experiencing comfort as luxuriously as the one percent, but the pursuit of it is nothing if not egalitarian. The wide availability of affordable cashmere at mass retailers like J.Crew and Uniqlo has been a significant step in this direction. There's trickle-up, too: The clog sole was originally exclusive to people who worked on their feet all day, such as nurses and chefs. Who knows—perhaps it will come to pass that comfort is the great equalizer.

Clockwise from top left: Eero Saarinen's Womb Chair, a comfort-chic classic; BeeLine Home's 20-inch-high side table offers sofa-sitters an easy-to-reach drinks perch; Plush flokati rugs, like this one from Anthropologie, have become de rigueur décor; The rooms at Firmdale Hotels cosset guests with upholstered headboards, functional-yet-flattering lighting and conveniently placed outlets; BMW 6 series's brown interior is considered reassuring to women; No hard edges on the Blogger sofa by Roche Bobois.

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